Changing my lifestyle habits allowed me to achieve my dreams. How did I do it? I climbed up the
mountain—step-by-step—and transformed my life in the same way.

In the 8th grade my lifestyle habits were
completely off track. I was depressed, emotionally shut down, and had very low
self esteem. My eating and lifestyle habits kept me in the same place for years
until I was 21 years old. To change, I needed to learn WHY I made the choices I
did, and learn new lifestyle skills and tools to do it differently. I've now
kept making these new choices for 42 years. I also have been
drug and alcohol-free for over 26 years.

(Hiking in Goat Rocks Wilderness Area)

Here's me. I'm hiking in Goat Rocks Wilderness. I
could NEVER have done this unless I'd changed my lifestyle habits. The quality
of my life has dramatically improved because of my learning the 12 essential
skills that are shared in my Playbook and on this website. At 63 years old I
still go back packing with about a 45-pound pack on my back! Check out myFrolic
In Nature page for beautiful pictures of lovely spots.

Bob's birthday picture at 63 years old!

I was overweight
and very unhealthy
way before my time!

My story shows an example of how one person worked with the
process of making lifestyle changes.It turned out to be a lot easier to
learn about new foods and to become more active in my daily activities. For me,
the difficult areas to transform were life-balance, self esteem and self talk,
emotional eating, and learning the skill of problem solving when things
weren't going well.

When I started my journey of change, I didn't know any of
the skills in the Essential Skills section. My lifestyle behaviors were
autopilot unhealthy. I was always the fattest kid in school. My eating habits
and lifestyle involuntarily kept me that way.

I am so grateful that the help I needed was available for me.

Today I find that people are struggling with the same issues in
their lives that I experienced over 42 years ago.

On the other hand, we are fortunate that there is so much more
information today and such an abundance of support groups.

Why are SO many people overweight in
the USA today? It is because we experience:

A too-busy, rushed, and hurried life makes taking time to be
healthy a BIG challenge.

Due to TV, computers, cars, neighborhood, community design
(that makes it difficult to walk to our destinations) and an infinite
variety of devices that diminish our level of activity, we have decreased
our level of physical activity 75% since 1900! More than 60% of adults are
not regularly physically active and the latest Surgeon General's report says
that 40% of adults are not active at all.

Quick-fix diet programs don't teach adequate
self honoring and self-management
skills that could enable us to go inside of ourselves for our own answers.

Because we are conditioned to believe that every problem has
an easy answer, we find it difficult to commit to something that may take
years to accomplish. We have a hard time remaining motivated.

Many of us do not have healthy role models to show us how to
live a healthful life or have wholesome relationships.

All of these factors make it challenging to
achieve a healthier weight and maintain those choices each day--for life. In my story and Web site I share all of the best ways I have
encountered that have helped me and the thousands of people I have worked with
for the last 42 years.

The KEY to being
successful is to make an ongoing investment in yourself--to
learn about the root causes of your overweight and lifestyle imbalances and figure out your personal
solutions--and not give up. JUST BEGIN AGAIN!
The key skill is to learn from your experiments at creating a more enjoyable
life. Learn what works and what
doesn't work for YOU. Just don't give up! For a PDF version of Make An Investment In You--Learn Core Skills.pdf

HOW you go about this
journey is as important as WHAT skills you ultimately develop. My mission is to
do no harm through any of this process. I encourage kindness and self-respect
towards yourself, to honor yourself with each of your moment-by-moment choices.
I want to help each of us to "end the inner emotional war" that many of us have
going on inside. The approach follows the Dieting versus the Non-Dieting Approach.

Bob also
participated in a NIH (National Institutes of Health) 5-day study
called the
“neuroanatomical correlates of hunger and satiety by positron emission
tomography" to determine how the brain controls the way we eat. To explore this,
they compared
formerly (or presently) overweight people's brains respond differently to hunger
than people who have always been thin. To read about the study and Bob's journey
explore: What’s
Going on IN there (Word document) To read the actual research paper
results check out Post-obese.pdf